Tennessee rolls out new principal evaluation

It takes a lot of effort and organization to compile a binder as thick as the one principal Tiffany Green keeps on her office shelf.

From notes documenting her classroom observations of her 19 teachers and how she supports their needs to evidence showing how she engages parents, the binder contains everything her supervisor needs to evaluate her performance as the lead administrator in her building.

Green is the principal at Whitehall Pre-Kindergarten Center in Jackson-Madison County School System, one of 10 districts across the state that piloted a revised principal evaluation model this year. The evaluation, known as the Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model, or TEAM, was made available to the public this week and will be used in almost all of the districts across the state this fall, including Shelby County Schools.

Before 2011, there was not a state-wide evaluation measure for principals in Tennessee. Every district was doing something different, principal evaluations were more subjective and, subsequently, principals who led schools with stagnant or plummeting test scores received high evaluation marks.

“The revised model reflects the changing work of the administrators to use student data to impact decisions and support teacher instruction,” said Paul Fleming, the executive director of leader effectiveness and deputy assistant commissioner of teacher and leaders with the Tennessee Department of Education.

The new evaluation gives more weight to the second of the two required principal observation scores and requires principals to give specific examples of how they have worked with teachers. Giving the second observation more weight allows the administrator to correct and improve any areas cited during the initial observation period.

The new evaluation model will especially matter in Shelby County Schools where a large portion of principals are trying to turn around academically failing schools at risk of being taken over by the state’s Achievement School District.

Shelby County Schools’ administrators decided to use the revised administrative evaluation model earlier this week.

Increasing the accountability of Tennessee’s teachers and principals has been at the forefront of education reform discussions in the state since it won the federal Race to the Top competition earning more than $500 million to overhaul education.

Fleming said updating the evaluation model for the state’s principals is the culminating step to increase student achievement.

“Principal leadership impacts teacher effectiveness in the classroom and student achievement,” he said.

Educational researchers believe that effective leaders are essential to the performance of teachers in the classroom.

“Next to teachers, principals are a significant factor in school achievement,” said Richard A. Flanary, who is deputy executive director of programs and services for the National Association for Secondary School Principals. “Principals don’t shirk away from being evaluated, but (nationwide) there’s been no capacity for feedback or opportunity for principals to grow. We think principals should have a voice in terms of the system designed for evaluation, comprehensive development and that recognizes principals across the continuum of their careers.”

In the revised evaluation, principals will be evaluated in four categories – instructional leadership for continuous improvement, culture for teaching and learning, professional learning and growth and resource management.

Each of those categories contains “indicators”, 17 in total, that define the parameters for the highest to the lowest level of performance.

For example, in the “instructional leadership for continuous improvement” category, principals are graded on how well they train and support teachers in providing students with a challenging curriculum that matches the state’s standards. To demonstrate they’ve done the work in this area, a principal could provide a copy of feedback notes on lesson plans or meeting notes from teachers’ professional learning communities where they develop lesson plans together. The expected result of the principal’s involvement in this area is demonstrated growth on teachers’ observation scores and meeting or exceeding goals for student achievement, gap closure and college and career readiness.

How principals are ranked, however, is not changing.

Administrators are still evaluated on a 1 to 5 scale, with 5 representing the highest level of performance. The observation scores still account for 50 percent of a principals’ total evaluation. The remaining portions of the evaluation includes value-added scores, which account for 35 percent and the remaining 15 percent of the total evaluation score is agreed upon by the principal and school district.

In Milan Special School District, administrators will use a modified version of the administrative evaluation, which allows supervisors to score principal observations at the end of year instead of immediately after an observation.

Milan Special Director of Schools Mary Reel served on the state’s advisory board and her district was also involved in the administrative evaluation pilot.

Reel said the previous administrative evaluation gave principals directives, but lacked specifics.

“We wanted (principals) to create portfolios and they were collecting information, but not doing anything with it,” Reel said. “We don’t want them stuck in the office trying to fill a portfolio with evidence. We want them to show that they’re pulling data to inform decisions. So we reduced the indicators substantially so they have more time to spend in the schools.”

As Green, the Jackson principal, prepares to travel throughout West Tennessee to train other principals on adapting to the revised evaluation model, she plans to stress the importance of a well-organized and evidence-packed binder for principals.

Green keeps notes from her meetings with her teachers, evidence of plans-of-action they’ve agreed upon to address deficient areas in student achievement and the results of their efforts.

When the superintendent or a central office administrator comes to her school for a planned or pop-up visit, Green said she’s always prepared.

“I’m a perfectionist so knowing exactly how we’re being evaluated and how to improve is important,” she said. “I feel the changes made to the evaluation gives principals a clear understanding of the expectations and the benchmarks to help leaders strive for where they want to be.”

Contact Tajuana Cheshier at tcheshier@chalkbeat.org and (901) 730-4013.

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